Acknowledge Sin

Many “experts” claim that bad behavior is not really the fault of the one who does it. The Bible says all problems (family, finances, career, relationships) can be traced to a single source: life-dominating sin. Heart change involves taking responsibility for our own actions and responses, not blaming others.

The articles below will help teach you how to acknowledge sin. (Note: Each article will open in a new browser window. To return to this page after reading it, simply close the new window.)

If we listen to the “experts” or even to the ordinary folk we live with every day, we hear many different explanations for why people do bad things. What most of these explanations have in common is a tendency to say that the behavior is not really the fault of the one who does it. (read more)

Before I went to college years ago, I spent a lot of time studying the Bible. I came across words like anger, resentment, fear, bitterness, rebellion, murmuring, dishonesty, lust, jealousy, fornication, and stealing. The Bible referred to these words as “sins,” or works of the flesh.

I shared this information with the restless, nervous people who crossed my path. As we talked, many of these people could see that some of these sins were present in their lives. They repented of their sins and their restless, nervous symptoms disappeared. (read more)

After I completed my university work, I was just getting started as a teacher and counselor. A letter came from a rural Kansas town extending an invitation for me to come for a week to lecture on a Biblical view of mental health.

This town was surrounded by beautiful, rolling hills and lush, productive farmland. The air was fresh and clean. There was lots of sky, and we enjoyed glowing sunrises, spectacular sunsets, and beautiful moonlit nights. There were prosperous farmers who lived in large, lovely homes with all the conveniences anyone could ask for. They looked out of their picture windows at their oil wells pumping black gold 24 hours a day. Everyone had several big cars in their driveways and we ate sumptuous meals. The people were elegantly dressed. The church was beautifully furnished.

You would think if there were any place in the world where people would be content and satisfied, it would be in this town. No doubt these people could teach me a thing or two about mental health.

To my surprise, I was swamped by people who requested counseling. There were many troubled hearts in those beautiful homes. (read more)

In grade school, I learned about an invisible law called gravity. It was on the playground where eight swings were installed side by side. We had a contest to see who could make his swing go the highest. I was standing up on my swing, and at a point where it was as high as it could go, I slipped—and I kept on going up and clear out of sight.

Do you believe that? No, thanks to the law of gravity, I came down so hard the impact broke one of my teeth.

Wouldn’t it be difficult if gravity worked only part of the time? Imagine walking in your neighborhood and never knowing for sure whether you would fly up or come down. Fortunately we can depend on the law of gravity. And though you can’t touch it or see it, if you jump out of a window, you will feel it.

You would not say, “I don’t believe germs exist,” just because you can’t see them. When you are sick, you experience the effects of germs. Even though you can’t see them, you do not deny that they exist.

These invisible powers are explained through science according to predictable laws. There are also biblical laws that affect our interactions. (read more)

Doctors, psychologists, government officials, and educators all agree that the human heart must be tamed. And almost all the people in these fields start from the premise that the solution to these problems depends on human intelligence, the scientific method, and social and cultural interaction. There is no deity to save us. There are no fixed standards to go by. We must help ourselves.

However, this is a false premise. We can depend on faith in a living God. Our problems are the result of deviation from His standards, otherwise called sin. It is true, we cannot help ourselves. But God has made provision for such a change. We need a change of heart as a starting point. (read more)

Copyright 2018 Henry Brandt Foundation
Disclaimer: BCI/BCO does not engage in providing counseling for visitors to this site. However, we will direct inquirers to various messages by Dr. Brandt that may be of help. We encourage visitors with serious problems to meet with a biblically-based Christian counselor.